No. 17 GW Men's Water Polo Edged By Cal Baptist, 11-9

Little Matches Season High With Four Goals

Ridvan Pehlivan notched his sixth hat trick of the season against CBU.

Oct. 3, 2013

RIVERSIDE, Calif. - The 17th-ranked George Washington men's water polo team dropped the first game of its West Coast swing, falling to host California Baptist, 11-9, on Thursday evening at Lancer Aquatics Center.

Senior Daniel Tyner put GW (9-3) on the board first, but Cal Baptist scored the final two goals of the first quarter to take a 2-1 lead. The Lancers scored the first goal of the second period to go up 3-1, but the Colonials tallied four of the next five - with two each by junior Ridvan Pehlivan and senior Nate Little - to take a 5-4 lead with 3:17 to go before the half. CBU, however, tied the game on a penalty goal 19 seconds later, then took the lead for good with 48 seconds left to go into the break up, 6-5.

Cal Baptist (7-6) scored the only two goals of the third quarter to take an 8-5 advantage. Little ended GW's drought 1:08 into the fourth period, but CBU responded with three straight goals to take a game-high five goal-lead, 11-6, with 3:47 to go. Tyner, Little and Pehlivan scored the final three goals of the game to pull GW within three, but it was not enough as the Colonials fell, 11-9.

Little matched his season high with four goals, while Pehlivan tallied three and Tyner recorded five points on two goals and three assists. Sophomore Jonah Dowd, who started in place of an injured Brian Mojica, had four steals and sophomore goalkeeper Connor Dillon made eight saves.

The Colonials return to action on Friday with a pair of games at the annual Gary Troyer Memorial Tournament. GW will take on Whittier at 4:40 p.m. ET and California Lutheran at 8:40 p.m. ET, with both games being played at the Poets' Slade Aquatics Center.